New to personal finance and money management? Start here to learn about the basics like paying off debt, saving more, spending less, and budgeting.
“So to me, this is not a money management question.” That’s what I told Jamie, a 42-year-old PA with $686,000 saved, right after she described her plan: quit the job she loves and take her husband and kids on a family gap year while they’re still young enough to remember it. She wasn’t asking if…
“Joe, I want to first talk about the elephant in the room.” Before we get into any retirement math today, I need to talk about something personal: the disaster that just hit Nepal, my home country. My family is safe, but I’ve spent the last several days thinking, oddly enough, about why a country with…
“Joe, if you had to choose between retiring as soon as possible or paying off a mortgage, what would you go for?” I ask Joe that right at the top of this episode, and his answer ends up being more prophetic than either of us realized. Joe and I help Carol figure out whether paying…
Jack Raines liked his boss on Hinge. It wasn’t reciprocal. A few months later, three beers deep at a bar, he told her he was quitting — then found a $250 plane ticket to Barcelona and left the country for a year. I sat down with Jack to talk about his philosophy for how to…
“Joe, have you ever had a stock that’s grown way beyond what you expected?” I ask Joe that right at the top of this episode, half because I already know his answer and half because it’s exactly the situation today’s final caller is in — and her question turns out to be messier than “just…
![#738: Hackers Waited 3 Months for This Couple’s $1.2 Million Deal, with Dr. Eric Cole [GREATEST HITS]](https://affordanything.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Eric-Cole-2025-suit-hands-crossed-photo-1-768x1303.jpeg)
Hackers broke into a real estate closing company’s servers and waited three months for the right deal — then intercepted a wire and stole $1.2 million from a couple who did everything right, right down to the closing table. Dr. Eric Cole was a former CIA hacker, Cybersecurity Commissioner under President Obama, and longtime security…
What happens when a sudden $850,000 inheritance turns into eight different account balances, three rental properties, and one very big decision about your future? When grief, real estate, and a six-figure windfall collide all at once, the fastest way to make an expensive mistake is to rush into “doing something” with the money. Joe and…
When it comes to our money, the things we feel most certain about are often the exact blind spots that quietly derail our long-term plans. We hold onto financial beliefs as if they’re religion or politics, rarely checking if they actually serve our long-term legacy goals. Veteran wealth advisor Andrea Baumann Lustig, author of Legacy…
![#723: Six Levels of Wealth, with Nick Maggiulli [Greatest Hits]](https://affordanything.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/OvkksR-6gJxgVZ0bYkYXoCofEFUwBkF4JrJaBf22RjA-768x1075.jpeg)
It turns out that almost everything we’re taught about personal finance is completely backward if you try to use the same advice your entire life. What works perfectly when you have $10,000 in the bank will completely stall you out once you hit $1 million. Yet most money advice treats everyone exactly the same, whether…
Ever feel like your money plan looks perfect on paper, but you’re still stressed out about it? While spreadsheets give us the exact math, how we feel about our wealth is a whole different story. Joe and I dive into the big gap between money logic and human psychology to help you find some actual…